Archive for the 'personal' Category

“I want to take a shower from the inside out”

– Fringe, FBI Agent Olivia Dunham

Doesn’t that describe guilt and sin well?

I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately since I’ve sorta been on vacation with a newborn. Logan is officially a month old tomorrow. Can’t believe it’s been a month. How convenient does this coincide with all the new season premieres.

I comforted. I took pictures. I cried.
Who is this new person in my life? Up until this day I couldn’t imagine how I could possibly love another child as much as I love my firstborn. Now I have some idea.
God help me.

Since my phone took a nice swim in the Atlantic, so conveniently before the new iPhone3G release I’ve been really wrestling with diving into the madness [See Tools of the Trade: iPhone 2.0 Part i]. Many of my friends have fallen victim. They eagerly demonstrate every app they’ve downloaded and ridiculously show off the iBeer app every chance they get.

****Sigh****
There’s no doubt that cell phones are critical to our lives now. It was inevitable. I know of a few people who still don’t have one. Good for them but I hate that they’re unreachable especially if they’re on my leadership team;) With all the texting, messaging, emailing, facebooking I do now…an iPhone makes some sense. Plus I’d like to be less attached to my 15″ MacBook Pro as much as I love this baby. I spend more time looking at it’s beautiful screen than my with my wife. Perhaps this post should be filed under Pastoral Confessions.

Here’s a snap that I took at 9:30am last Friday at the Apple Store in the King of Prussia Mall with my new Motorola RiZR off ebay which I will be reselling. I needed to get my MacBook Pro looked at and I stumbled into this madness. I spoke with the Apple Concierge and they said this is the 6th day straight they’ve had these lines and then I entered the den of temptation for my technolust. I’m still holding out.

I’ve been on a little hiatus from blogging. Sorry faithful readers and friends. Summer is here. The heat has turned up not only in terms of temperature but in life as well. There’s a slew of transitions that I’ll be undergoing in the next few months like increased responsibilities in pastoral leadership alongside a new baby, just to name a few. So pray for this ABC pastor.

I’ve been working on some partnerships for ABCPastor and working towards version 2.o of this blog. We’re getting there. The vision of this blog is to be a resource and a nexus for connections. Again if you want to contribute to this blog just holla.

This is one of those days. It’s clear skies and somewhere in the 70s outside here in Philly. It’s supposed to stay that way at least for a few days. I’ve been plugging away for hours on this Sunday’s message in my office with the lights off [I can’t stand fluorescents]. We’ve started a new series recently called ‘Heaven on Earth‘. I look outside my window and I’m thinking yea…

Sometimes we need a reminder to just unplug and get out.
This little comic [We The Robots] is a perfect reminder…enjoy!

Is it possible that God intends to bring heaven down to earth and that the in-breaking of that reality of hope and peace is to be found increasingly in the everyday lives of his people?
Truly, we need to get out. Love, laugh and learn.

I sat down to watch a few DVR days worth of Nick Jr’s “Ni Hao Kai-Lan” with my virusy family. It made it’s debut on Chinese New Year. (btw Xin Nian Kuai Le! 農曆新年) Jayden’s picked up more Chinese in one week than he has since he was born. The show is an interesting venture capitalizing on the bilingualism of Dora the Explorer and the play along think along techniques of Blues Clues. What’s more interesting to me is the emotional intelligence that Kai-Lan teaches. During the middle of the episode a character demonstrates some issue and Kai-Lan encourages kids to figure out why they acted in that way and find a solution. I can appreciate that and the Mandarin lessons.

The NYTimes has a good article on the show and its creator, Karen Chau. I found her relationship with her dad quite amusing and all too familiar.

Kai-Lan is timely. Kids are more influenced by Asian culture than ever before getting beyond Kung-Fu and Moo-Shu Pork of my childhood experience. Makes me think of all those years of Chinese school. To think, my parents were cutting edge then. It’s essential now to learn Chinese in American schools in order to prepare for a global economy.

Cloverfield opens today. The trailers have been brilliant.
Everyone wants to know what destroys NYC.

At TED (the conference featuring leading thinkers and doers in technology, entertainment, and design) director J.J. Abrams shared something very interesting about mystery. He showed a wrapped box with a large question mark on it that he had purchased years ago but never opened. He probably never will either.

He says the mystery of what’s inside the box is more interesting than anything that might be in the box.

“It represents infinite possibility; it represents hope; it represents potential… mystery is the catalyst for imagination… maybe there are times where mystery is more important than knowledge.“

I love how he describes mystery as being full of possibilities. It reminds me of how each of us is a mystery like that box. Our future is a mystery. Everyone has their own idea about what “could be”. That’s an exciting thought. It celebrates our diversity and how our lives can unfold a particular story. It takes shape and form as we are engaged in this world on this side of heaven. Also we won’t know how our lives affect one another. When we meet, share, play, learn or stare, glare and crash through life, it all gives shape to the mystery of our lives. There’s a greater story to be told.

I think about a new life in the womb, I’m speechless as to the infinite possibilities.

abcpastor [american born chinese pastor] seeks to be that third place for those who are american born chinese [abc] in ministry.
[i] here we may explore issues unique to the chinese church and doing ministry in that context
[ii]expand the intersection of asian american culture and christian faith
[iii] or simply expose what goes on in the mind of this abcpastor

this may be a bit ambitious or even naiive but i do hope that through the posts we can bring together different faith communities, passions for the advancement of the Gospel and the equipping of the body of Christ.

if you are an abc pastor or have any suggestions or would like to contribute to make this space evolve, just comment.